Gwendolyn Brooks

Gwendolyn Brooks (7 June 1917-3 December 2000) was an American poet who, in 1950, became the first African-American to win a Pulitzer.

Biography
Gwendolyn Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas in 1917, and her family took her to Chicago, Illinois when she was six weeks old. Her parents encouraged her poetry, and she began submitting poems to various publications as a teenager. Even after marrying, having children, and working as a typist, she continued to write poetry, often dealing with the struggles of ordinary people. She won the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Annie Allen, making her the first African-American to win the Pulitzer. In 1968, she became Poet Laureate of Illinois, and she died in 2000.